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Canon policy
The Wing Commander series 'canon' includes the games (including ports and remakes which sometimes add additional material), the manuals, the strategy guides, the novels, the Wing Commander: Academy animated series, the card game, and finally the movie (and its related material). Secondary includes published promotional material, boxes, etc (Academy TV Press Kit). Third is unpublished design material or other documents which may not be fully canon or outdated, but interesting as to how they related to various topics (these include material such as the Wing Commander Universe Bible, unpublished WC4 timeline, and material concerning Privateer 3/Online, pitched Privateer TV show etc). Some of this has made it into later sources, or influenced later sources, but most of it has remained unused or left outdated by later released sources. But generally speaking most of this may be less than canon. Of final note is that material such as Unauthorized Wing Commander Guide, or fan fiction are simply not canon. Background While these various sources do not necessarily perfectly mesh with each other (and do include discrepancies), according to the current game developers they are still part of the canon. In general anything made by Chris's Roberts for the universe is considered canon. Novels may have scenes that differ from the games or other sources (or share a mix of winning and losing paths, rather than all winning paths, in which case the novel represents the 'true' and 'realistic' outcome), and some of the movie material may give certain alternate details for example. However based on the manual and development notes from Wing Commander Arenahttp://www.wcnews.com/cgi-bin/searchnews.cgi?id=143774&page=1, all the sources are considered 'valid', in a kind of shared universe (see Looking Back: A Century of Turmoil, the Arena timeline). Even the novels for the movie, and guide for the movie include details sourced to the animated series, and the games. Even characters based on the same character Bluehair (Carl T. LaFong, Jason Armstrong, and Christopher Blair) are considered separate characters that 'exist' in the same universe according to Star*Soldier's notes. This was used to fix a few discrepancies made between the animated games and the live action games (the novels based on the live action version of the universe), as well as the Wing Commander I and II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide, and the version of Blair's backstory as retold in the novels, and movies, and animated series, and games (LaFong for example is some 78-80 years old active citizen at the time of the guide and Star*Soldier, whereas Blair is thought dead or missing at that time). According to the explanation in the guide (and to lesser extent in Star*Soldier/notes) is essentially the original versions of WC1 and WC2 (sans Kilrathi Saga version which is clearly defaulted to "Maverick" "Blair" in the original two games) is basically the video game 'based' on the life of Carl T. LaFong, and a few other confederation pilots (Pitak Puzaki of the TCS Eagle's Talon). Some seemingly conflicting material are simply not explained as of yet (such as the seeming death and resurrection of characters such as Bossman, and Knight as in the movie and their appearances later in the timeline in the games), while other details may not need to be 'explained', but simply represent artistic license (different physical appearances of the Tiger's Claw/Tiger Claw, or the different appearances of the Kilrathi between early animated games, animated tv show, the live action games, and the film)... though this wiki does occasionally have separate articles for some of these alternate versions of the ships when there are some specific technological information specific to them (essentially to discuss the mm as a separate ship class). The animated series being placed before Wing Commander I, when originally it was to be set in 2655, one year after the date given in WC1 (2654) in some of the development ideas (Academy TV Press Kit). However it was always intended to be a 'prequel' to the games, and set before WC1 (causing a timing issue with the dating of the show to the academy, and a possible retcon of the timeline). It might make some material seem more 'consistent' if set the material after WC1. However, other issues arise due to the fact that Christopher Blair was already supposed to have been 'out' of the academy by that time. Wing Commander Arena chose to keep parts of it before WC1 (as originally intended), but moved other parts to during WC1 in 2654 to fix some of the these issues. At the same time some of the details of the Press Kit simply never made it into the final released program. The veracity of Pilgrim Truth in relation to Wing Commander Canon is not entirely clear. It was not considered entirely canon at the time Star*Soldier was released (due to to the novel's unpublished, and unreleased nature according to Ben Lesnick who worked on the material), but elements of plot did make it into the timeline in that source (those references at least were considered 'canon')"2654.074" - My addition, describes the Wing Commander movie. "2654.079" - My addition, describes Pilgrim Stars. "2654.130" - My addition, describes Pilgrim Truth. I wanted to make the unpublished novels 'canon', even if their specifics are not. . However, later on the book saw online publication with EA's blessing, the blessing of the author, in conjunction with Wing Commander CIC website, etc, finally completing the story (Lesnick now considers the "published' public version canon). This wiki assumes and treats this release as an 'official' release, and therefore canon. However, fan artwork included in the digital release is still treated as 'fan craft/fiction'. Wing Commander Arena Wing Commander Arena is the most recent produced game in the Wing Commander series canon. The game and its documentation Star*Soldier makes reference to m details from the entire history of produced Wing Commander material including the original games, novels, and even the movie. References to Pilgrims and the Pilgrim Wars appear in the game itself as well. It is basically used as the main trmplate for this wiki's position on "canon". http://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/bossmans-callsign-should-have-changed.21542/<\ref> Important Documents These are important documents to read as they contain information concerning the development of the Wing Commander canon: *Star*Soldier (contains the most current canon timeline based on earlier published timelines from the manuals, with additions from the movie handbook and material, and animated series). *Wing Commander Arena Star*Soldier gloss notes *Wing Commander Bible (used by the early game designers up to Wing Commander 4 as a template of the background of the games. It is somewhat outdated, some materials completely changed in the published sources, and later games. Games *Wing Commander I (Secret Missions I & II: Crusade) *Wing Commander (Sega) *Wing Commander SNES *Wing Commander: The Secret Missions (SNES) *Super Wing Commander *Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (Special Operations 1 & 2) *Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger *Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga *Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom *Wing Commander: Prophecy *Wing Commander: Secret Ops *Wing COmmander: Prophecy GBA *Wing Commander: Arena *Wing Commander Academy (game) *Wing Commander: Armada (Proving Grounds) *Wing Commander: Privateer (Righteous Fire) *Privateer 2: The Darkening TV & Movie *Wing Commander Academy (tv series) *Wing Commander (film) Novels *Book 1: Freedom Flight (Mercedes Lackey & Ellen Guon) *Book 2: End Run (Christopher Stasheff & William Forstchen) *Book 3: Fleet Action (William Forstchen) Book 4: Heart of the Tiger (William Forstchen & Andrew Keith) *Book 5: The Price of Freedom (William Forstchen & Ben Ohlander) *Book 6: Action Stations (William Forstchen) *Book 7: False Colors (William Forstchen & Andrew Keith) *Book 8: Wing Commander: The Movie (Peter Telep) *Book 9: Pilgrim Stars (Peter Telep) *Book 10: Pilgrim Truth (Peter Telep) Other *Wing Comander Junior Novelization Behind the scenes The Wing Commander TV show being set simultaneous to WC1 rather than prequel set before KQ1 was originally a fan retcon created by WCNEWs but was adopted and made canon by the Japanese DVD release of Wing Commander Academy tv series, and reused in Star*Soldier. This wiki chooses to follow official canon which includes all sources of material as a single canon despite any discrepancies. It also mirrors similar policy followed by Wing Commander CIC and Ben Lesnick (Bandit LOAF) who was involved in part with influencing materials in the Wing Commander movie novelizations series, influencing the timeline, and writing new official material for Wing Commander Arena. Just as with religious 'canon', the term does not have anything to do with 'continuity' but rather what are deemed to be accepted or inspired body of works. Where as for example the Bible "canon" may have different accounts from varying points of views that do not always perfectly fit together, the same can be said for the Wing Commander's 'canon' body of works. External links *Question about canon *Canon and timeline discussion - contains a history surrounding the Wing Commander Academy TV series retcons. *More details concerning additions from Arena, and references to the Pilgrim Wars. *More canon discussion. References